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Cracking Your Genetic Code

Ah yes, genetics. One of my favorite topics! Genes are a unit of heredity which we get from our parents and expresses our characteristics! Your genes determine things as noticeable as your height or the color of your eyes all the way to things you do not even realize, like your health.

To start off our genetics unit, my AP Biology class watched Cracking Your Genetic Code. The documentary discussed the ethics and the pros and cons of easily accessing your genetic information. The step to finding and encoding our genetic code is extremely revolutionary, but all good things have downsides. Understanding and knowing own genetic codes enable us to also determine the causes of health issues in one’s body or predict certain illnesses.

*Warning: SPOILERS ahead*

Within the documentary, there were real life examples of the benefits of encoding our genes. One example was on twins who wished they had their genes encoded earlier since they experienced severe cerebral palsy symptoms later in life. Determining our genetic codes earlier may sound revolutionary, but the documentary talked about how knowing and accessing this information earlier may disrupt life. Knowing information about increased risks of illnesses at an early age invades a child’s privacy. For instance, if parents were to access their child’s genetic information immediately after they were born, the parents may prevent their child from certain activities. The issue is that this information may save a life or interfere with one’s life.

As accessibility and cost of determining genetic information increases, privacy decreases. As our world continues to advance, we may not even need our social security numbers since our genetic information may take over to determine our identities. The documentary brought up a good point that if our information becomes more openly discussed, we may narrow our vision by only looking at genetics. People may start to question the genetics of other individuals, such as their partners to understand how their children could potentially be affected by their genes. Additionally, eugenics and designer babies will begin to rise in popularity if people continue to look solely at genetics. This is unethical because this may decrease genetic diversity, which is important to evolution.

Interested? Watch this preview of Cracking Your Genetic Code.

Personally, I don’t know if I want to know my genetic information.

What do you think? Would you want to know your genetic information? Leave a comment below.

Citations

American Nurse Today. “Genetics in the Clinical Setting.” American Nurse Today, 16 Oct. 2019, http://www.americannursetoday.com/genetics-clinical-setting/.

“Cracking Your Genetic Code.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/cracking-your-genetic-code/.

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Earth Science Week Contest

Guess what I did recently! I enrolled in the Earth Science Week Photo Contest. At school, my AP Biology teammates and I celebrate Pope Francis’ Laudato Si by enrolling in the Earth Science Week Photo Contest. What is Earth Science Week though? Earth Science Week’s mission is to provide a better understanding of the importance of the Earth to all people. One way Earth Science Week celebrates Earth is by conducting the annual Earth Science Week Photo Contest! The theme for the 2019 Earth Science Week Photo Contest is to capture a picture of someone from our community exploring Earth science.

For my photo submission, I captured a photo of my little brother while we were on a hike in Woodside, California. As I walked around, I noticed how tall the trees were and analyzed the intricacy of the trees. The photo helped me realize that we notice the things in front of us, but tend to forget what’s nature provides above us. In my photo submission, my brother explores the geosciences and analyzes what is around us.

This photo explores the beautiful and decorated earth around us in Woodside, California on one Sunday afternoon. Looking at this different angle provides a perspective that tells us how big our environment impacts life and the subtle connections that we do not really notice, such as the tall trees standing above and around us.

Next year, I encourage you to join the Earth Science Week contests and share what our beautiful Earth has to offer.

Learn more about Earth Science Week on Earth Science Week‘s website:

http://www.earthsciweek.org/about-esw

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F.L.O.W.

Ahhh, water. I like how that word flows. Speaking of how the word “water” flows, I recently watched a documentary called F.L.O.W. and guess what the film is about? WATER!! No living organism on this planet can survive without water, yet how come so many people in the world are deprived of the vital resource? I learned that water privatization is a big factor. The documentary focuses on the contents of bottled water, how water is not easily accessed by people living in impoverished communities, and how big water corporations are privatizing water and overpricing the resource.

Did you know that bottle water is not any safer than tap water? In the documentary, I was surprised by the fact that some bottled waters had problems, including the fact that there was bacteria present in the water and that tap water was found instead of mountain water. We may think that bottled water is great because we are lead to believe the water we pay for is filtered, but it may actually be more contaminated than tap water itself.

The documentary showed viewers different parts of the world, especially impoverished areas, that are affected by water privatization. The documentary first addressed Bolivia as one area that is suffering from water privatization. More than 200,000 people in Bolivia were deprived of water systems and many were impacted by the water war that went on between the people and the big corporations that took over their water systems. At first, these water corporations were welcomed into many countries, including Bolivia, because many people thought the corporations would help the poor. However, these big corporations did the opposite and only raised water prices in order to greedily make profit.

  • (“How Privatisation Undermines”)

Nestle Water, an example of a water corporation that has history of depleting water from several areas, recently has proposed to take 1.1 million gallons of water per day from Ginnie Springs, Florida. This is an issue because Nestle is taking water without paying the state for the resource and gaining profit. Also, the river has had history of being over-pumped by other corporations, so the river is still considered to be “in recovery.” Water corporations are taking away a basic resource that is necessary for all living beings.

Water is not a finite resource. Many people are using too much of water. The state of California only has 27 years of water. That is insane to think about! After watching the documentary, I felt guilty about the fact that I never thought about areas that are deprived of this necessary resource. We must conserve what we have now so we do not lose what is keeping us alive.

In order to prevent this water crisis, we must take action in the local level. Foot marches and protesting are ways we can stop these big water organizations from taking away water from more people. Also, through personal introspection and learning, we can understand truly how much water is important to our lives.

Learn more about FLOW at https://flowforwater.org/about-us/!

To learn more about the importance of water, watch the video attached below!

You can also learn more about your water footprint with a water footprint calculator! Try to take time and fill this out to learn more about how much water you use. I challenge you to make a difference and try to lessen your water usage.

Citations

“About FLOW: FLOW For Love Of Water: FLOW For Water.” FLOW, flowforwater.org/about-us/.

Bayas, Allen. “Flow: For Love of Water (Full Documentary).” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Mar. 2017, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvtnVQPxmzM&t=4s.

Davidson, Jordan. “Nestlé Plans to Plunder 1.1M Gallons a Day from Florida Natural Springs.” EcoWatch, EcoWatch, 11 Sept. 2019, http://www.ecowatch.com/ginnie-springs-nestle-bottled-water-2640064483.html.

“How Privatisation Undermines the Human Right to Water and Sanitation.” End Water Poverty, endwaterpoverty.org/blog/privatisation-human-right-wash.

International, WWF. “The Importance of Water.” YouTube, YouTube, 8 Sept. 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxqbpPWTl6A.

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A Plastic Ocean

When you throw away plastic, where do you think it ends up? You are probably thinking that the plastic reaches a landfill and stays there. After watching the documentary A Plastic Ocean, I discovered that this was not the case. Only a fraction of plastic is recycled and the rest in our environment, including our oceans. We may not understand it now, but our plastic reaches our water systems, such as rivers, and would eventually transport it to our oceans. The documentary opened up about the terrifying truth and effects of plastic on marine life, human life, and the food chain. A Plastic Ocean furthered my knowledge on the severity of plastic pollution and its detrimental effects on life. I strongly advise for you to watch this documentary to better your understanding on plastic pollution so we can work together and save the Earth!

*Warning – Spoilers from the documentary A Plastic Ocean ahead!*

I am not going to lie, but there were several tear-jerking scenes in the documentary. Director Craig Leeson focused some scenes on the painful suffering of animals due to plastic consumption. I was especially moved by the researcher’s autopsy on the birds and discovered their stomachs were full of plastic pieces that prevented them from eating. Factors such as sunlight and waves break down large pieces of plastic into microplastics, which unfortunately makes the substance more easily accessible for animals to eat. The toxins from plastic passes in the bloodstream and circulates throughout the body, disturbing bodily functions. Animals, such as fish, consume these microplastics, which then transfers into the human body system since we consume them. This puts the entire food chain in danger. We throw plastic into our environment to get rid of it, but what we may not know is that plastic chemicals and toxins are probably lingering in our bodies. We are what we eat, and if what we eat animals made up of plastic chemicals, then the entire food chain will be made up of plastic.

This is an image of a bird that had died due to the consumption of numerous pieces of plastic.
Plastic kills animals.

Plastic pollution is not only affecting animals and their environments, but also humans. Since plastic is mass produced and is easily accessible, some parts of the world burn plastic to cook. These parts of the world may understand the effects of plastic chemicals and toxins that the substance produces, but are not financially inclined to do anything about it. Humans saw the advantages of plastic and its abundance, but are blind to see its harming influence on wildlife.

What should we do to prevent our quality of life from declining? Here are some methods you can start doing now:

  1. Recycle
  2. Limit your use of plastic
  3. Reuse plastic containers
  4. Participate in a beach clean up

After watching A Plastic Ocean, I will certainly adapt these methods and share it with my community. If we all work together to practice these environment-saving practices, we can slowly help our Earth heal. Although it may not solve the problem fully and quickly, we can preserve the Earth for a longer time. Think about the future generations and how much they would benefit. If we put these practices in our everyday lives, all living organisms can live longer on this planet. Restoration asks for the participation of every individual on the plant. The planet needs you.

What will you do?

Organizations such as Oceana are trying to make people more aware on the topic of plastic litter. In their website, you can join their movement and take the #BreakFreeFromPlastic pledge. If we all I hope you can find ways to help save out Earth!

To learn more about how you can end plastic pollution, check out this website: https://www.earthday.org/2018/06/08/what-you-can-do-to-end-plastic-pollution/

https://www.earthday.org/2018/06/08/what-you-can-do-to-end-plastic-pollution/
https://www.earthday.org/2018/06/08/what-you-can-do-to-end-plastic-pollution/
https://www.earthday.org/2018/06/08/what-you-can-do-to-end-plastic-pollution/
https://www.earthday.org/2018/06/08/what-you-can-do-to-end-plastic-pollution/

Citations:

“Campaign.” Oceana, oceana.org/our-campaigns/plastics?utm_campaign=Campaigns&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpcu24bC45AIVl8VkCh1yJQGkEAAYASAAEgKQDvD_BwE#action.

Thompson, Richard. “Plastic Entanglements Increase 40% For Marine Animals .” Ocean Health Index, Ocean Health Index, 22 Aug. 2013, www.oceanhealthindex.org/news/Death_By_Plastic.

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The Vortex Swim

Ahh, welcome to my first blog post! Currently, I am learning about the Vortex Swim with my AP Biology teammates. What is the Vortex Swim exactly? The Vortex Swim is Ben Lecomte’s journey through the Plastic Vortex, located between the states of Hawaii and California (300 nautical miles). The purpose of the swim is to raise awareness of the amount of plastic found in this highly polluted area. This area in the ocean is known as the ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ due to its high concentration of plastic debris. I want to you to be as curious as my teammates and I on Lecomte’s journey on saving the world.

This swim has brought to my attention the severity of plastic pollution in our Earth. Our world is a precious place that we should take care of. We should take care of all organisms on the planet because biodiversity is important to the functions of all ecosystems. Each species has an important role that cannot be replaced by another when they are extinct. Learning about how the plastic we use in our everyday lives have accumulated into tonnes of plastic in the ocean has made me recognize how much humans are abusing other ecosystems that are vital. I want to be part of Lecomte’s journey on spreading awareness of this issue. Below, I attached a video that had truly moved me to understand the effects of plastic pollution on our ecosystems, especially our aquatic ecosystems.

After learning about the Vortex Swim, I have been interested in learning about how the vortex pulls the plastic in a specific location. In the video “The Vortex Swim – Ben Lecomte“, Lecomte stated that “Ocean currents… have pooled [plastic] together into a sort of ‘soup’ of rubbish.” I am curious as to how these currents are able to pull all these amounts of plastic into The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I am also curious about the aquatic life there and how much they have been impacted by the accumulating plastic. I hope the Vortex Swim has sparked your curiosity as much as it has mine.

My curious questions are:

  • How do the currents in the Plastic Vortex pull the plastic in one specific area?
  • How does plastic break down in the ocean and what organisms are responsible for breaking plastic down?
  • How is biodiversity and aquatic life impacted by the accumulating plastic in The Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
  • What equipment did Lecomte and his crew use to collect data?

Do you think Ben Lecomte will do another challenge soon?

Check out Ben Lecomte’s #TheVortexSwim challenge on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thevortexswim/?igshid=a8ixwl7dsly6

Learn more about the Vortex Swim: https://benlecomte.com

Citations:

Icebreaker, director. The Vortex Swim – Ben Lecomte | EN. YouTube, YouTube, 14 July 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzLFuhEyI0c.

The Leatherback Trust, director. Removing a Plastic Straw from a Sea Turtle’s Nostril – Short Version. YouTube, YouTube, 12 Aug. 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2J2qdOrW44.